Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a play that has been imbedded into modern-day literature and pop-culture. Similar to Shakespeare’s other stories, Hamlet is a very formulaic story with several character archetypes and the common theme of hamartia continues to be used today in many current forms of fictional writing. Specifically, crucial characters within Hamlet such as Claudius, Hamlet and Polonius have varying character archetypes and as a result each character has a different set of goals and ethical boundaries. Throughout the course of the play, characters are shown to have different methods that fall within different moral boundaries; specifically, the characters Claudius, Hamlet, and Polonius have different moral limitations which either
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Similar to modern society, murder was considered an atrocious and horrible act in Shakespeare’s time. However, in addition to murder, Claudius also commits regicide by murdering his brother, the king, and as a result the atrocity of the murder committed is much more severe than the average 21st century audience would recognize. Therefore, this passage further demonstrates the lack of moral guidelines that Claudius is willing to follow in order to accomplish the goals he has set out for himself. Moreover, it is clear that Claudius does not care about the limitations of murder because he explicitly states it himself, “Hamlet comes back: what would you undertake, / To show yourself your father’s son in deed / More than in words? … / No place indeed should murder sanctuarize; / Revenge should have no bounds. But, good Laertes, / Will you do this, keep close within your chamber”, (4.7.125-129). In this passage, Claudius explains to Laertes how revenge should be an act that overrules the logic and boundaries of everything else. However, this passage is also indicative of Claudius’ personality and how he does not care about the welfare or emotions of other people, as demonstrated by the manipulation of Laertes’ anger for Hamlet to fit his own purpose. The final indication of Claudius’ lack of moral standing and the boundaries he is willing to cross is when he constructs a plan to murder his nephew Hamlet, “Yet must …show more content…
Contrastingly to Claudius, Polonius is shown to have very few ambitions or goals. Evidently, Polonius’ actions within the play seem to harbor no malicious intent or bad will. However, whether intended or not, it remains a fact that Polonius crosses several moral boundaries in an attempt to maintain the king’s favour and happiness. Consequently, it detrimentally affects the opinions of those around him and ultimately results in his death. Firstly, Polonius takes control of his daughter and manipulates her into coercing information out of Hamlet as shown in this passage: “At such a time I’ll loose my daughter to him: / Be you and I behind an arras then ; / Mark the encounter; if he love her not” (2.2.161-162). In this quote, Polonius reports several pieces of information regarding Hamlet back to the king. He also states that he will attempt to have his daughter charm Hamlet in order to see if he is lovesick or not. By spying on Hamlet and informing Claudius of all of his actions, it is evident that Polonius holds no regard for the personal privacy of others. Additionally, he forcefully drives his daughter into uncomfortable and eccentric situations where it would
Similar to modern society, murder was considered an atrocious and horrible act in Shakespeare’s time. However, in addition to murder, Claudius also commits regicide by murdering his brother, the king, and as a result the atrocity of the murder committed is much more severe than the average 21st century audience would recognize. Therefore, this passage further demonstrates the lack of moral guidelines that Claudius is willing to follow in order to accomplish the goals he has set out for himself. Moreover, it is clear that Claudius does not care about the limitations of murder because he explicitly states it himself, “Hamlet comes back: what would you undertake, / To show yourself your father’s son in deed / More than in words? … / No place indeed should murder sanctuarize; / Revenge should have no bounds. But, good Laertes, / Will you do this, keep close within your chamber”, (4.7.125-129). In this passage, Claudius explains to Laertes how revenge should be an act that overrules the logic and boundaries of everything else. However, this passage is also indicative of Claudius’ personality and how he does not care about the welfare or emotions of other people, as demonstrated by the manipulation of Laertes’ anger for Hamlet to fit his own purpose. The final indication of Claudius’ lack of moral standing and the boundaries he is willing to cross is when he constructs a plan to murder his nephew Hamlet, “Yet must …show more content…
Contrastingly to Claudius, Polonius is shown to have very few ambitions or goals. Evidently, Polonius’ actions within the play seem to harbor no malicious intent or bad will. However, whether intended or not, it remains a fact that Polonius crosses several moral boundaries in an attempt to maintain the king’s favour and happiness. Consequently, it detrimentally affects the opinions of those around him and ultimately results in his death. Firstly, Polonius takes control of his daughter and manipulates her into coercing information out of Hamlet as shown in this passage: “At such a time I’ll loose my daughter to him: / Be you and I behind an arras then ; / Mark the encounter; if he love her not” (2.2.161-162). In this quote, Polonius reports several pieces of information regarding Hamlet back to the king. He also states that he will attempt to have his daughter charm Hamlet in order to see if he is lovesick or not. By spying on Hamlet and informing Claudius of all of his actions, it is evident that Polonius holds no regard for the personal privacy of others. Additionally, he forcefully drives his daughter into uncomfortable and eccentric situations where it would